Finished Within Walls solo

If Maverick remembered correctly, his mother's old school friend Miss Freitas was to stay in his house for a week, but the week had grown into a month, and one thing led to another.

He guessed he was getting used to have the guest, or perhaps she was no longer a guest but just one of themselves the hosts, but she was still driving him insane at times. Maverick, who had always considered his beautiful house cigarette-free, suddenly had to deal with ashtrays on the balconies and on the garden table and the smell of different perfumes as well as face powder. Even though Miss Freitas had kept her words that she would only do it outside, it still bothered the preteen.

That one particular evening, Maverick was in his room, just finished showering after working out at the gym nearby. He heard his father entering, his surprised voice asked, "Where's Jeannie?" "Oh, she has gone out to the bakery. She said it should just be fifteen minutes or so," replied Miss Freitas' voice.

Maverick sighed. He honestly had no idea how his mum could be so trusting, leaving the house and trusting her friend, still a stranger to him despite her constant presence, to stay there? He had tried to talk her out of it earlier, but she dismissed his concerns. "You know Claudia is my dear, dear friend, Mav," she said rather impatiently. "Of course she won't drug you and run away with our stuff. You've been enjoying her stories and her teaching you Portuguese, haven't you?" With that, she kissed his forehead and was gone downstairs.

Back to the present, just two or three minutes after Miss Freitas' answer to his father, the Gryffindor could hear her speaking again, "Are you always so nervous without Jeannie when I'm around? It's like receiving a bad review if my society isn't welcomed even for such a short time."

"You're all right, Claudia," said his father kindly, but it was followed by silence, and Maverick's feeling whispered that it was an awkward one. But he could not see them, for he was in his room on the first floor and they were standing, or perhaps sitting, within milk-white walls of the corridors on the ground floor.

It must have been one full minute before finally, "Good old Darrin!" her voice spoke up again, followed by a laughter, but one that sounded like a kind of mocking laugh in Maverick's ears. He walked out from his bedroom to see what was going on just as Miss Freitas passed him by, her simple but beautiful white casual summer gown flowing like a little wave of the ocean as she moved quickly to the room where she slept in, the light reflected in the faux crystals on her dress.

But Maverick's forest green eyes were not the ones following her, turned out so did his father's. The two pairs found each other, and how surprised the younger one was when he saw the elder one frowning. But the man quickly changed his expression with an actor's trained habit. His voice was calm and gentle, almost oddly calm and gentle, as he called, "Mav. Get ready and get down here, son. Mum's coming home soon and we're going to have dinner." His father spoke nothing about Miss Freitas' strange behaviour, but neither did Maverick ask.

Then he went down for dinner.